I got a Smart Alec!!!!!

[BrianI]

I'm not sure if the MaxPed personal organizer(s) will fit in the Smart Alec pockets. I bet the Micro sized one would.

I have a Fatty sized ... I'll test with my Smart Alec. I discovered this morning that it's roughly the size of the Dyneema 3D organizers and slotted into on of the front pockets on my new Co-Pilot.

[Ginkgo]

If I can get my act together, I hope to get take some pics of my Smart Alec and its contents soon, bltkmt! Maybe "A Week in Ginkgo's Smart Alec"?

[cucciasv]

... Sometimes I carry a puppet.

I've always been amused by some of the things people carry in their wonderful Tom Bihn bags.

For example, I've never used lip balm in my life, and yet everyone mentions lip balm. They even appear in Tom Bihn's product videos! I don't even know what lip balm is used for!

Then there are the water bottles. When I go places, I generally just purchase coffee or other beverages.

I know I'm the odd one... not using lip balm or bottled water. I'm just saying....

Now, we read that Ginkgo carries a puppet... and I wonder... why?

---

Someone please help me!
I have BAS (Bihn Acquisition Syndrome)!!

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[bltkmt]

Agreed on the lip balm...never use the stuff. My lips somehow stay supple on their own.

[bltkmt]

I'm not sure if the MaxPed personal organizer(s) will fit in the Smart Alec pockets. I bet the Micro sized one would.

I have a Fatty sized ... I'll test with my Smart Alec. I discovered this morning that it's roughly the size of the Dyneema 3D organizers and slotted into on of the front pockets on my new Co-Pilot.

FYI, I have found that both the Micro and Mini size fit in the outer pockets just fine. The EDC Organizer does not fit so well though.

[Ginkgo]

Now, we read that Ginkgo carries a puppet... and I wonder... why?

For puppet improv class, obviously! :) I know it's not a trend sweeping the nation, but it's an awful lot of fun. I'm on hiatus from building puppets currently because I'm too busy, but hopefully I'll jump back into that in the next couple of months. Then there will be puppet body parts in my Smart Alec.

[Canonsue]

Hmm...I wonder if I should be carrying a puppet in my Synapse. Drat, now I don't feel prepared for anything without a puppet. :)

Sue

[cucciasv]

Uh-Oh... I feel the stirrings of PAS - Puppet Acquisition Syndrome!

---

Someone please help me!
I have BAS (Bihn Acquisition Syndrome)!!
and now, PAS (Puppet Acquisition Syndrome)!!!

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[Ginkgo]

Uh-Oh... I feel the stirrings of PAS - Puppet Acquisition Syndrome!

Two buttons and a tube sock is all it takes to start!

[C. Shuy]

Thanks to my tax return, I got a black/cardinal/steel Smart Alec, with the straps and both external pouches. It has yet to be used, but I have trips coming up and suspect it will be perfect for it.

[Fat Crip]

I've always been amused by some of the things people carry in their wonderful Tom Bihn bags.

For example, I've never used lip balm in my life, and yet everyone mentions lip balm. They even appear in Tom Bihn's product videos! I don't even know what lip balm is used for!

... why?

Well, this is an old one! For a long time, almost every new bag that TB launched was video reviewed by Maverick and one of the things that he always included was a lip-balm. However, one day he made a video without one as he'd left it in his car. I reminded him and pulled his leg about it so now there has to be a lip balm :)

On the other hand, I generaly carry a lip balm as my lips can get dry and crack in the wind or the sun... I'm with you on the water bottle thing though! I neither carry one around, nor do I ever feel the need for a $100 beverage container!!! I often buy coffee or water and find that they are usually encapsulated in a handy, form-fitting container that is generally suitable for the purpose :)

[ceb]

I've always been amused by some of the things people carry in their wonderful Tom Bihn bags.

For example, I've never used lip balm in my life, and yet everyone mentions lip balm. They even appear in Tom Bihn's product videos! I don't even know what lip balm is used for!

Then there are the water bottles. When I go places, I generally just purchase coffee or other beverages.

I know I'm the odd one... not using lip balm or bottled water. I'm just saying....

---

Someone please help me!
I have BAS (Bihn Acquisition Syndrome)!!

---

The lip balm is simple. Move from PA to Colorado and you'll have a bottle of lip balm everywhere - in pockets, in your car, in your bags, on the kitchen table, on your nightstand.

The "good bottle" is equally explainable. Buying water is expensive and harms the environment (and much of the bottled water is merely filtered tap water) so a good bottle with a couple of ice cubes will keep your "Brita filtered" water cold all day, whereas that plastic bottled stuff gets warm and undrinkable quite quickly.

Same goes for coffee. I can make a pitcher of coffee at home for pennies and keep it piping hot in a good bottle all day long - or I can spend $5 on a Starbucks and toss half of it when it turns lukewarm. That $5 a day for a month is 20x5 or $100 a month which is $1200 a year. A good bottle costs $30 and if I spend $1 a day making coffee that gets me a full year (including weekends) for under $400.

A Brita (or equivalent) filter is $30 and a years worth of filters is another $20. A bottle of water purchased at a store is $1 at the grocery and $1.75 at the vending machine at my office - call it two a day and you're at $1000 a year.

Total for coffee and water bought at stores is over $2200 a year. Double that if you live in Colorado or other places with no humidity. DIY and it is $450 for the same time period.

Is that $30 bottle really that stupid?

[ceb]

Agreed on the lip balm...never use the stuff. My lips somehow stay supple on their own.

Move to a place with no humidity. You'll use it then :)

[daisy]

I pretty much always have lip balm in my bag somewhere - don't use it that often but when I need it I need it NOW.

The cool thing is that in a Tom Bihn Bag, the lip balm (or whatever other little item you like to have just in case) has a place to live but just doesn't seem to take up any room.

(eg - a pen slot in my SCB or in an organiser pouch ... I'm sure there are times when I'm carrying TWO lip balms, depending on which bag I have and which OPs I've put in)

[backpack]

Lip balm use depends on many factors including: ambient humidity or lack thereof, someone's skin sensitivity and the effect of cold and sun.

I completely agree on the use of a good bottle to keep one's hydrated all day, no matter the weather, I use juice which is cheaper to buy by the quart glass bottle, or made in a machine like the Vitamix as one can sneak in vegetables and make a relatively cheap and portable meal replacement.

My 16 oz Tom Bihn Lifefactory bottles are 2 years old, 730 days old and it is $20, the price of a glass bottle of organic juice is $1.75 minimum as some U.S markets are more expensive.

One bottle each day is 52.50 per month.

0.66 cents a day is the cost per day for a month of owning the Tom Bihn Lifefactory bottle. During that month the juice expanse would have had to be $1.09 to be as expensive as a store bought glass bottle of organic juice.

Filtered water cost a lot less and juice made in bulk with organic ingredients cost less that store bought big bottle of organic juice as well.

Reusable bottles make sense, not only for the wallet but also the environment, the Tom Bihn Lifefactory bottle has been a really great addition to my overall well being.